Rwanda in 2012

Pres. Paul Kagame and the governing Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) maintained a firm grip on Rwanda’s political scene in 2012. While there was little overt opposition to the government, some Hutu opponents began preparing for the 2013 parliamentary election. Moreover, some former Tutsi supporters, including a number of officers in the armed forces, some of them in exile, expressed frustration over corruption and nepotism.

In June the government shut down the gacaca community courts that for 10 years had tried people charged with having been involved with the 1994 genocide. Rwandan authorities stated that about 65% of the nearly two million people brought to trial were convicted. Unfortunately, perhaps as many as 10,000 people had died in prison before their trials. These courts aimed to achieve truth, justice, and reconciliation among Rwandans, but human rights groups at home and abroad complained about inadequate access to qualified lawyers and charged that there remained many unanswered questions.

In October Rwanda was elected unopposed to a nonpermanent African seat on the UN Security Council, despite widespread accusations of the country’s direct involvement in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) conflict. The timing of its election was embarrassing for the UN because the Security Council’s own group of experts had issued a report condemning Rwanda for its support of the rebel M23 group in eastern DRC. Although Rwanda denied complicity with the rebels, considerable evidence pointed to the government’s providing weapons, troops, funding, and even a government minister to assist with strategic decisions. Beginning in July, Rwanda participated in several summits of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to discuss a solution to the eastern DRC conflict.

Rwanda’s economy remained one of the strongest in the Great Lakes region. Real GDP growth eased to 7.7% in 2012. According to the World Bank’s Doing Business 2013 report, the country remained the third easiest place to do business in sub-Saharan Africa, after Mauritius and South Africa. Rwanda was dependent on foreign donors, principally the U.K. and the U.S., for a large percentage of the national budget. When donors suspended much of that aid over the allegations of Rwanda’s involvement in the DRC conflict, the government responded by launching the Agaciro (Dignity) Development Fund on August 23. The fund’s administrators urged citizens to donate money—$100 million was the initial target—so the country could attain more economic autonomy. Within the first two weeks, an impressive $22 million was raised.

The two-year trial of Hutu opposition figure Victoire Ingabire came to a close in 2012. In October she was found guilty of treason and of making disparaging comments about the 1994 genocide; she was sentenced to eight years in prison.